Tech Giants Lead U.S. Stocks Higher -- U.S. Commentary

(RTTNews) - U.S. stocks turned in a strong performance Tuesday, led by gains among energy, tech and health care companies.

Stocks have been racing higher into the New Year amid easing concerns that a recent interest rate hike from the Federal Reserve will hurt the economy.

Many traders remain on the sidelines, however, with the upcoming New Year's Day holiday keeping trading activity relatively subdued.

The S&P 500 gained 21.86 points, or 1%, to 2,078, pushing into the green for the year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 192.71 points, or 1.1%, to 17,720. The Nasdaq Composite rose 66.95 points, or 1.3%, to 5,107.

Another upbeat reading on the U.S. consumer kept Wall Street in a buying mood. A report from the Conference Board showed that consumer confidence rebounded by more than expected in December.

Meanwhile, Standard & Poor's said home prices in major metropolitan areas rose more than expected in October.

The report said the S&P/Case-Shiller 20-City Composite Home Price Index climbed 0.8 percent in October after rising by a revised 0.5 percent in September.

Alphabet, the parent company of Google, closed at a new record high, as did Amazon, leading tech shares to a nice advance.

Significant strength was also visible among retail stocks, as reflected by the 1.2 percent gain being posted by the Dow Jones U.S. Retail Index.

U.S. retail sales rose 7.9 percent this year during the holiday season, excluding sales of automobiles and gasoline, according to MasterCard. The rising strength of e-commerce was also visible, with online sales up 20 percent this year.

Energy shares were higher as crude oil prices rebounded. Nymex February oil futures ended 2.9% higher at $37.87 a barrel.